Penn State recruited plenty of speed last year and has put some of it to use this season. Receivers Devon Smith, Justin Brown and Curtis Drake have played quite a bit offensively, and fellow freshman Stephon Morris has become the defense’s nickel back.

But where is all this speed on special teams? That’s one personnel issue Joe Paterno has second-guessed recently.

“If there's anything that I would question, it's whether we may not have the best people in there [on special teams],” the head coach said. “That partly is because I decided that I didn't want to use some young, good athletes early in the year because I didn't want to just put them on a couple special teams. It had to be my decision, and that's the one I made, and it may not be right.”

Penn State’s dreary special teams play has included some notable deficiencies. The team lacks not only a serious threat to return either kickoffs or punts but also the tackling ‘gunners’ of years past (such as Ethan Kilmer, Nate Stupar and Mike Mauti).

As a result, the Lions rank a dismal 114th in the nation in kickoff returns and 107th in punt returns. On punts returns in particular, Penn State has all but given up trying to make plays, instead dropping back two players to make fair catches.

In 63 punts this season, Penn State has 25 fair catches. By contrast, opposing teams have five fair catches in 44 punts.

Paterno said he intends to make “a few personnel changes” on special teams for the final two games, but that seems a late stab in the dark. The Lions should have invested more of the preseason auditioning returners beyond running back Evan Royster and safety Drew Astorino.

One thing Paterno said he won’t investigate, however, is staff change. Like most college teams, Penn State divides its special-teams coaching responsibilities among several assistants. Paterno said he has no plans to put a specific assistant in charge.

“It’s working,” Paterno said. “We just have to do a little better job, get some better people in there. That's my problem, all right? I've got to make sure we get guys in there who can get the job done. It's not the scheme, it's not the coaching, it's a question of whether I'm giving them enough time or I've emphasized it enough.”

Current Comments

please help:
this is off the page, but does any one have the play-by-play of the the fsu--psu gator bowl of 1967?
that is 17 all game that paterno went for the first on fourth and a couple, very late in fourth quarter, while ahead, while somewhere in the penn state territory (28? 31?).
florida tied it.
any information would be appreciated.
thanks in advance,
kevin